


Of Love and Dragons

by orphan_account



Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Canon Era, Dragons, First Time, Fluff, Humour, M/M, Romance, Secrets, UST, happy end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-06-09
Updated: 2012-06-09
Packaged: 2017-11-07 09:17:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/429382
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Arthur attempted to hide one creature of magic in his cupboard, only to end up with another one in his bed. </p><p>Or the one where pretty everyone knows that Arthur knows of Merlin's magic and that Arthur has a baby dragon in his chambers (except Merlin), Gwen is a plotting hussy, Leon has a particular horror of dragons (even tiny ones), Gwaine is a cheeky sod, Aithusa truly fails at sonnets, Merlin is clueless and a little heartbroken and Arthur is heartbroken and a little clueless.</p><p>Written for this KMM prompt: <i>The baby dragon doesn't want to leave. It makes a nest in the bottom of one of Arthur's cupboards. Arthur doesn't have the heart to kill it, especially after it starts to talk. Arthur has to hide it from Merlin in hilarious and convoluted ways.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Love and Dragons

Normally, Arthur would be woken by Merlin flustering around his bed, opening the curtains and babbling nonsense. This morning was different. As he drifted into consciousness he was aware of a hot weight on his chest and the vaguest hint of smoke.

Oh, _gods_ , was the castle on fire?

As Arthur jumped off the bed, the weight on his chest snarled and fell off. It had blue eyes. Eyes which were now gazing grumpily at him from under a pile of sheets. Arthur grabbed his sword and poked at the pile. It made a weird, puffing little sound. Suddenly there was a scorched mark on the sheet.

Arthur poked again. "Reveal yourself, beast."

It didn't. It _gurgled_ \- sounding like a mixture of a human baby and a puppy. Arthur grabbed one end of the sheet and pulled quickly, exposing the intruder. The beast sitting on his bed was a dragon. A miniature, white one, but still a _dragon_. The most vicious of magic creatures, the beasts his father had spent years of his life eradicating. 

Arthur lifted his sword, ready to kill the monster. The dragon looked at him, tilting it head slightly to the left and making another happy, gurgling sound. Its eyes were very blue.

Almost like _Merlin's_.

Arthur dropped his sword.

He squatted next to the bed, only an arm's length from the creature. It was standing on its hind legs, tiny paws raised, its pose much like a squirrel's. Then it made the funny little noise again. It lifted its head and sniffed the air. With an agile jump it closed the distance between them and sniffed at Arthur's hair.

It seemed to like what it found, because it raised a paw and raked its claws gently through Arthur's fringe. It was very warm, not at all like a lizard. It smelled faintly of woodsmoke.

Completely unafraid, the dragon climbed up on Arthur's naked shoulder. It reminded him of an exotic ape he'd seen on a market in his childhood. Once on Arthur's shoulder, the dragon calmly continued to examine Arthur's hair. It was only then that Arthur realised the implication was faintly insulting.

"Hey! I'm the King of Camelot, you little beast. I haven't got _nits_!" The dragon didn't take any notice of him, but continued its search.

What did baby dragons eat anyway?

His question was answered when the dragon yelped and flew to the open window, where it devoured a fat bluebottle which had been lazying about on the curtain, before flying back to perch on Arthur's shoulder.

It rubbed its nose with its paws, like a cat washing its whiskers. Arthur fondly remembered his childhood pet, Pangur Bán the cat. Pangur had lived in the armoury, where he kept the place free from rats and kept the knights company. When he died of old age he'd been given a state funeral, with a cat-sized pyre and a tiny knight's cape.

Arthur sighed. He couldn't force himself to kill the little monster. Not when it made noises like a baby and had almost human eyes. He sat down on the bed.

All of a sudden, the door opened. The dragon roared, or at least Arthur assumed that it was supposed to be a roar. It sounded more like a cat with respiratory problems. A woman screamed and something dropped to the floor with a loud noise. Arthur turned round. It was Gwen, and she had dropped the tray with his breakfast on the floor. Arthur got up and pulled her inside, almost dislodging the dragon in the process. He shut the door quickly.

Gwen stared at the dragon. The dragon growled at her.

Arthur patted its tiny head with a finger. "Shh. It's only Gwen. Gwen is _nice_."

"Is that a dragon?" Gwen sounded more surprised than scared.

"I think so."

She stretched out her hand and let the creature smell her before she gently touched its head. The dragon gurgled happily and sniffed the air

"Come closer, Guinevere. It wants to smell your hair."

He went and sat down on the bed so Gwen could sit next to him.

Gwen moved slowly, careful not to scare the dragon. It refused to leave Arthur, but when Gwen came close enough, it pawed her hair experimentally.

"What is it doing?" she said, awestruck.

"It's looking for nits." Arthur exclaimed, with barely contained glee. Gwen pinched his arm.

"I haven't got any!"

"Well, then it's clearly going to starve, because I haven't got any, either." He paused, as a thought came to him. "Where's Merlin, by the way?"

"Gaius says he's in the tavern."

Arthur pouted. "I take it that means he's on some secret, magic mission he doesn't want to tell me about. As _usual_." He sighed heavily. "You know, Gwen, sometimes I just want to tell him that I know all about it. It's so demeaning having to pretend being the stupid blond all the time. Why doesn't he trust me? I tell him all my secrets, don't I?"

Gwen put a comforting arm around him, giving the pleased dragon easier access to her curls. "Arthur, darling. You've got to give him some time."

Arthur sulked. "But I have! I've been pretending to court you forever, and he just _encourages_ me. He isn't even jealous!"

"Well, to be fair, I told you it was a bad idea," Gwen said, trying not to move too much and upset the dragon. "We have no chemistry whatsoever. A blind man could see that."

"Not _Merlin_. He thinks we have this epic romance going on. I could swear the music we keep hearing each time we have to kiss is his doing."

"Maybe if you were nicer to him?" Gwen's voice was as patient as ever, as if they didn't have this conversation at least once a week.

"But I _can't_. If I'm too nice he gets all nervous and thinks that he's done something wrong."

Gwen gave him a sweet, but somewhat tired smile. "What are you going to do about the dragon?"

Arthur pretended not to be insulted by the fact that she'd changed the topic away from his Royal Angst. "I just can't kill it. It's so _tiny_."

"But you can't keep it! You should release it into the wild."

"I can't release a dragon upon my people. It would be highly irresponsible."

"And keeping it in your chambers isn't?"

"It would only be temporary. When it's bigger we'll have to find somewhere else for it to live."

"So Merlin's going to care for your dragon, on top of everything else he has to do for you?" Gwen gave him a reproachful look.

"Of course not! What do you take me for? I'm going to care for _my_ dragon myself. Merlin has far too much on his mind anyway. We should just keep it from him."

"Do you even know how to care for dragons?" Gwen was obviously not fully convinced.

"You could help me. Gaius must have books on dragons. If you borrow some from him, we could work it out."

"Very well. But I will not do all the work for you. I'm just going to borrow the books."

Arthur grasped her hand and kissed it, favouring her with an angelic look from under his honey-coloured lashes. "You're the best, Guinevere."

She shook her head, but he knew she couldn't resist his boyish charm. "Fine. I'll get the books for you, but you'll have to pick up your breakfast from the floor yourself, like a big boy."

At that moment the door burst open again and Leon stormed in. "My Lord, your presence is required-" He stopped and stared at the creature on Arthur's shoulder.

"It's a dragon!" His faced blanched and he fell to the floor. Gwen hurried to his side.

"Arthur! You should be careful with your pet! You know Leon has a particular horror of dragons ever since the Great Dragon attacked Camelot and almost killed him." Her voice was stern, as if this was somehow Arthur's fault.

Together, they managed to manhandle the unconscious knight onto Arthur's bed, where he woke up soon enough. It took longer to convince him that the dragon was still a baby and didn't pose a threat to Camelot or its citizens.

By then, Gwaine had appeared, looking for Leon. While Arthur was still trying to explain to him why Leon was allowed into the royal bed, Percival and Elyan showed up. After the initial confusion, Arthur briefed them all on the dragon situation issuing strict orders not to reveal anything to Merlin.

Gwaine chuckled. "So you have your own magical secret, Princess? Trying to get back at Merlin, are we?"

Arthur frowned. "I'm not even going to dignify that with an answer, Gwaine."

Arthur wasn't petty, but he still got Gwaine to clean the breakfast from the floor. They all went to training after that, except Gwen, who went to Gaius. The dragon had nested in one of Arthur's drawers, and they were fairly certain it could be left on its own for a while.

Gwen brought a basket of freshly baked bannocks for Gaius, just in case he needed sweetening up. She needed not have worried. Gaius was feeling a bit tired, and was happy to sit and talk about dragons. When she had to excuse herself, he gave her three hefty tomes, all taken from Merlin's room.

Gwen and Arthur reconvened in his chambers after training. The dragon had sensed Arthur's presence and flew out of its nest to sniff at the sweat-soaked King ecstatically. It started licking his face and sucking on his hair. Arthur blushed furiously and tried to remove the beast, which proved difficult.

"It likes salt," Gwen said. "It's just licking it from your skin." She brought up a little bowl in which she mixed water and salt, which she took from a little bag in her pocket. She took the protesting dragon and placed it next to the bowl on the floor. It started drinking immediately.

"It feeds on insects, small rodents and birds. Its more adapted to flying animals, but it can eat worms and larvae, too, as an occasional treat."

Arthur smiled. "You are a marvel, Gwen. Would you help me out of my armour, too? Since Merlin isn't here?"

Gwen wrinkled her nose. "As long as you don't want me to bathe you. You're all sweaty and disgusting. Only Merlin and that dragon of yours could possibly stand you."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders. "It's an honour to bathe the King, Gwen, and it's not as if you haven't seen everything already. We bathed together in the river _all the time_ when we were children, you and Morgana and I." The thought of his sister silenced him for a while.

"We were _children_ , Arthur!"

"Ha! Did you think I didn't notice you two spying on me undressing when we were teenagers?"

Gwen blushed.

"You weren't exactly discreet, what with all the giggling and shuffling. Do you honestly think any sane man would take that long to get undressed? All that faffing about was for your viewing pleasure."

"I'm sorry." Gwen bit her lip so as not to smile.

"Don't be. I rather enjoyed it. The only thing that saddens me is how everyone thinks I'm so bloody clueless all the time. I do have a brain, you know." He made his sad face, in which his eyes appeared to be unfathomable depths of blue and his mouth pouted in a heartbreaking manner.

Gwen almost hugged him until she remembered that dirty, sweaty men encased in metal weren't her cup of tea. She helped Arthur remove his armour and left him to his ablutions while she fetched lunch for them to share while they plotted.

*

During the afternoon the knights were ordered to bring insects for the dragon to eat. The childish joy of Percival and Elyan, let loose in the meadows behind the city wall with a net to catch moths, was quite contagious.

That night Arthur placed the little dragon in its nest before going to bed. As he blew out his candles he pondered over the fact that Merlin had been missing all day.

*

He woke up the next morning to the dragon gurgling at him at some godforsaken hour. In the end he had to get up and give it some moths from the bag that the knights had provided. Afterwards, he couldn't go back to sleep, so he put the now drowsy dragon back into its nest and started working on a speech for next week.

Half an hour later, Merlin burst in through the door with Arthur's breakfast.

"You're already up!"

Arthur looked up from his papers. "That's correct, Merlin. I do manage to wake up without you. Otherwise, I would have spent all of yesterday in bed."

Merlin blushed. "Terribly sorry about that."

"Another bender at the tavern, was it? Gaius told me all about it. We're starting to get rather worried about you, you know."

"Eh..." Merlin stared at him, and Arthur could almost hear Merlin's brain working to come up with some clever excuse. In the end he just fell silent. Arthur felt a little bad about it.

"Enough of that," he said with a kingly gesture. "Will you join me for breakfast?"

They were almost finished when a gurgling sound was heard from the drawer. Merlin frowned, and his ears twitched minutely. Arthur acted as if nothing had happened. The sound was heard again.

"What _is_ that sound?" Merlin said.

Arthur feigned ignorance. It was something he was very skilled at. "I didn't hear anything. Probably still your ears ringing from yesterday. Maybe you should get some rest."

"I'm not hungover."

"Whatever you say, Merlin," Arthur said, his voice perfectly pleasant.

The sound was heard again, now accompanied by faint scratching. Merlin looked at Arthur. "Are you sure you're not hearing anything?"

"Nothing at all."

"Maybe you should step out, and I can examine the room."

Arthur wiped his mouth daintily on the napkin. "What for? This paranoia doesn't suit you at all, Merlin. You should take the morning off and get some sleep." He gave Merlin another royal stare before making a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Off you go, I won't be needing you until lunch."

The hurt look in Merlin's eyes almost made Arthur call him back and tell him everything.

*

Keeping a dragon wasn't completely unproblematic. It didn't grow fast, but its appetite seemed to grow, and soon it required a significant amount of small rodents as well as chickens and pheasants from the palace kitchens.

The books explained that since dragons were magical beasts, most of what they devoured was transformed to heat, leaving little for growth.

Still, the dragon came with many unexpected blessings. Arthur's chambers had never been so free of pests. The dragon devoured rats, mice, moths and flies. Sometimes even the occasional pigeon hovering outside his window. It could also light candles. 

Its heat was excellent for sore muscles, meaning that cuddling the dragon after training became something of a favourite pastime among his closest knights (except Leon, who still felt slightly uncomfortable), who had Arthur bring the dragon to the armoury while they trained. At night, it warmed Arthur's bed, as the autumn chill came unusually early that year.

The only serious setback was that the sheer amount of lying affected his relation to Merlin. Every time the dragon made too much noise, he had to find some excuse for Merlin to leave his chambers. He could no longer let Merlin come and go as he pleased.

Any cleaning had to be done during the knight's training, when the dragon was in the armoury. This meant that Merlin was excluded from watching the training, something he'd always done, for as long as he had been with Arthur.

One evening, while Arthur was reading a book about dragons while the little beast slept curled by his feet, he was surprised by an unknown voice.

"Ar- _thur_ \-- Ar-thur Pen- _dra_ -gon--" The voice had an unusual timbre. It sounded as if it wasn't too sure on the pronunciation of Arthur's name.

He looked around him before gliding out of bed and grabbing his sword. The dragon huffed at the sudden movement. Arthur searched the room. There was no-one about. Returning to bed, he found the little dragon snoring lightly. As he looked at it, it moved in its sleep, and Arthur heard the voice again.

" _Ar_ -thur--" The voice seemed to emanate from the dragon.

Arthur poked it lightly. It woke up and made a whining sound.

"Say it again. Say _Arthur_."

The dragon gazed at him, its head tilted in an adorable way. It looked sleepy.

"Say _Ar-thur_."

The dragon opened its mouth. "Ahh-rrr"

"Almost. Try again, I know you can do it. _Ar-thur_."

The dragon made a funny face, as if talking required facial movements it was unused to.

"Ahhrr-thurr."

Arthur laughed and petted the dragon's head. "That's right! Aren't you a good dragon. Gwen and the boys will be so proud!" He found a bag of insects in a drawer and offered the little beast a large dragonfly.

*

It took even more coaxing to make the dragon speak in front of Gwen and the knights. When it eventually did, everyone was much impressed. Naturally, Gwaine spent an inordinate amount of time trying to make it say _Gwaine_ , promising it mice if it succeeded.

With all the new attention, it wasn't long before the dragon prattled as happily as any human toddler. Which made it even more difficult to keep it from Merlin.

One day, halfway between Samhain and Yule, Merlin was polishing Arthur's armour while Arthur was writing a letter to Princess Elena. Elena had many interesting theories about how to breed the perfect warhorse. As it was a subject dear to Arthur's heart, they had exchanged many a letter on the topic.

Arthur and Merlin's cosy domesticity was brusquely interrupted by a whisper.

"Merlin... _Mer_ lin... What beautiful ears you have _Meerr_ -liiiin--"

The young warlock almost jumped from his chair. Arthur was proud of the fact that he managed to stay still and pretend he hadn't noticed anything.

"Did you say something, Arthur?" exclaimed Merlin. His eyes were just a little bit wild.

Arthur looked at him, aiming for a regal look of complete disinterest, but only managing to appear slightly constipated.

"No. Are you _imagining_ things again?"

Merlin blushed even more, making his ears look unusually pretty and glowing. They were the very same colour Arthur imagined they would be if Merlin lay in his arms, slack with post-coital bliss.

They settled down to their chores again, when, after a while, the voice was heard again.

"Merlin... Oh, _Mer_ lin... No maiden has a neck as white as you, or lips as rosy red..."

Merlin looked up at Arthur again, his eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Seriously, Arthur. Are you making fun of me?"

"No! I don't know what you're talking about."

"You didn't hear someone sing-songing my name, then?"

"You've probably got some brain damage from spending all your free time at the tavern. You need to have Gaius look at it."

"No way," Merlin said. "You must've noticed it too."

As on cue, the voice was heard again. " _Meeeer_ -liiiiin... Your skin, soft as the costliest silk... Let me cover it with my trembling lips... Oh, how pale and snow-white it is, like milk... I will find my haven betwixt your hips..." Merlin really went snowy white before turning a costly shade of red which would have made a strawberry jealous.

Arthur felt shame consume him. What on earth was the dragon _doing_? Gwen had been reciting nursery rhymes to it lately, but he was pretty certain she hadn't been composing tasteless odes to Merlin's anatomy with the impressionable little beast. Maybe it was Gwaine?

"You _must_ have heard it, Arthur. You can't tell me I imagined it." Merlin was anxious now.

"Maybe it was the wind? There's almost full storm outside."

"That was _not_ the wind!"

"I'm pretty sure it was."

Merlin shook his head. "Whatever."

Fortunately, the dragon kept quiet until Merlin retired.

Gwaine denied any knowledge about the poetry, claiming he would never compose anything that was less than completely bawdy. But Arthur had the feeling that the merest mention of the poetry incident had inspired some mad idea in Gwaine's head.

If Arthur had known about the secret meeting Gwaine organised at Gwen's place the next day, he would have regretted telling him anything. Fortunately, the King remained oblivious.

And Gaius was so used to Gwen's new interest in dragons he didn't even wonder why she wanted to know if it was good for growing dragons to learn tricks, thereby exercising their developing brains. The fact that she brought him nice mulled wine and her famous ginger biscuits meant he waxed lyrically about dragons all evening.

*

A few days after Yule, Merlin showed up in Arthur's chamber rather late in the evening. He looked dishevelled, as if he had just got up from bed. In his hand, he held a flagon of mulled wine.

"Aren't you being a prat tonight, Arthur," he mused. "I was just falling asleep. Have you any idea how long it took for me to get warm in my bed? And when I get back it'll be cold again."

"I haven't called for you, you idiot. I was just getting ready to go to bed myself."

"It looked to me as if you were looking forlornly out of that window. Dreaming of _Gwen_ , no doubt." Arthur was pretty certain he hadn't imagined the bitter tone that Merlin tried to mask with briskness.

"I was _not_ dreaming of Gwen!"

"Well, it was Gwen who fetched me and told me you'd asked me to attend to you and bring you some nice mulled wine from the Palace kitchens."

"Oh." Arthur tried to think what the woman was up to now. With Gwen you could never really now. But he had to play along. It wouldn't do to have him accusing Gwen of being a plotting hussy (even if she was). "Uh. I forgot about that. The wine. Of _course_."

"She said I should stay and drink with you, so you wouldn't finish it all on your own."

"Gwen knows best." Arthur shrugged his shoulders and pulled out a chair for Merlin before sitting down himself.

They remained in comfortable silence until that very silence was broken by a voice.

"Kiss Merlin!"

Merlin choked on his whine and coughed so much Arthur had to get up and slap his back. Despite the racket, they could clearly hear the voice again.

"Kiss Merlin! Kiss Merlin!"

Merlin looked at Arthur. His face was still flushed from coughing, but a smile was playing on his lips.

"What are you playing at, you silly turnip-head?"

"Nothing. I've done _nothing_! Why don't you _ever_ believe me? I accept all your stupid lies all of the time. Why won't you do the same thing for me?"

Merlin looked at him, and Arthur realised Merlin was pretty good at playing innocent when he really had to. "I don't know what your talking about."

Arthur's reply was interrupted by the voice. It was louder, this time.

"Kiss Merlin! Kiss Merlin! Kiss Merlin"

"It's only your imagination." Arthur said, when the voice grew quiet.

Merlin shook his head. "It's clearly coming from somewhere in the wardrobe."

Arthur jumped out of his chair and leaned against the wardrobe, preventing Merlin from opening it.

"I told you it was only in your imagination. You may leave now."

Merlin looked angry. "Are you throwing me out? Why won't you let me look into your wardrobe if it's only my imagination?"

Arthur thought about that a moment. "I've hidden your present there. You can't see it."

"Yule was two days ago, Arthur. You gifted me the silly hat you made me wear when I just got to Camelot. Everyone laughed for half an hour and I wanted the earth to swallow me. I was profusely grateful. Now let me look into your wardrobe."

"I meant the present for next year. _Obviously_. I can't spoil the surprise for you."

"But it's a _year_ until next Yule. You can't have got me a present already. You're just making things up!"

Merlin tried to push at Arthur. If Arthur hadn't been so nervous, he would have laughed about it. Merlin weighed about half as much as he did, and was as weak as a girl.

"Kiss Merlin!" The dragon shouted, sounding slightly exasperated.

Merlin licked his lips in a highly distracting manner. "Very well," he said, and threw his arms around Arthur's neck, giving him a kiss that almost made Arthur's legs collapse.

"Mmmpph," Arthur said, and his arms hugged Merlin closer, even though they were meant to push him away. By then it was easy for Merlin to start backing away from the wardrobe, letting Arthur lead him to the bed.

Just when Arthur thought Merlin was about to fall into the bed, the younger man bolted and ran to the wardrobe. Before Arthur could stop him, he'd opened the door.

The dragon was sitting on a shelf, in between some of Arthur's belts. When it saw Merlin, it gurgled happily and jumped on to his shoulder. It even allowed itself to be held in Merlin's arms and have its belly petted, as if it had been a cuddly cat and not a tiny monster.

“Merlin!” The dragon cried out.

"Aithusa! What on earth are you doing here? You're so big now! And you can talk and everything!"

Arthur felt a wave of jealousy. He couldn't even tell if he was jealous of the dragon preferring Merlin to him, or of the dragon receiving the caresses Merlin owed his King.

"You know each other?" Arthur said, trying not to sound upset.

Merlin was clearly mortified. "Yes. How did he end up in your wardrobe?"

"I found him in my bed sometime around midsummer. I've had him since then. I just couldn't kill him. I didn't want to add his maintenance to your burdens, and everyone agreed. So we've kept him a secret from you."

" _We_?"

"Oh, me and the knights and Gwen."

"So you told _everyone and their grandmother_ about your dragon, except me." There were actual tears in Merlin's eyes. Arthur wished Merlin was a little less emotional. Seeing him cry was a torture Arthur had never got used to.

"I didn't want to bother you! You've got so much to worry about already, keeping the magic secret-- and all that."

Merlin stared at him.

Arthur stared back.

"You _know_! You know-- How long have you known?" Merlin's voice was little more than a whisper. The dragon in his arms wailed, like a baby whose parents were arguing.

"I've always known there was _something_ about you. I don't know when I actually figured it out. It must have been gradual. You see, I always know when you try to heal me, even if I'm unconscious. And you're rather bad at hiding your magic a lot of the time. Gwen and the knights know too. We just don't talk about it."

Merlin went and sat down on Arthur's bed. His shoulders slumped. The dragon purred and licked at the tears running down his cheek. Eventually it pressed its little head to Merlin's cheek and put its paw on Merlin's neck. It looked as if it was hugging him. Merlin petted its back.

"I'm OK, Aithusa. I'll be fine in a minute."

"Is that its name, Aithusa?"

Merlin nodded.

"How do you know?" Arthur was genuinely curious.

"I named him."

"Is he yours, then?"

"No, he's his own. It's just-- I guess I shouldn't tell you, but I saved the egg from the tomb of Ashkanar. Then I brought it to Kilgharrah, whom you know as the great dragon, because I had promised him the egg. And then he told me that only dragonlords could call dragon's from their egg, by giving them a name. So I did. Aithusa means the light of the sun in dragon tongue, apparently. He's supposed to bode well for you and me and the land that we will build together." Merlin sniffed. "But now you've spoiled him, and he's degenerated to living in wardrobes and reciting dreadful, third-rate poetry and being generally indecent. Dragons are _noble_ creatures, Arthur. They're meant to roam the land, free and unshackled and wise. Not entertaining Kings with bawdy songs."

"He can roam all he wants when he gets a little older. But I would be happy if he did it at a safe distance from Camelot. And I haven't spoiled him! I don't know what got into him! "

"Eh, I think I can answer that." It was Gwaine's voice. The man himself appeared soon enough, crawling out from under the bed. He was holding a small mouse by its tail and had a little whistle round his neck.

Aithusa flew from Merlin's arms to perch at Gwaine's shoulder.

"Kiss Merlin! Kiss Merlin!" It shouted excitedly. Gwaine gave him the mouse, which he took before flying to sit at the top of the wardrobe, where it devoured the mouse instantly.

Arthur and Merlin stared at Gwaine, who simply threw his arms up in an apologetic gesture.

"We just wanted you two to be happy. I thought you might find each other through the dragon when I heard about its poetry, and then Gwen and Elyan remembered a story their dad used to tell them. About a couple who had a fight, and then their adorable baby told the daddy 'daddy, why don't you kiss mummy no more?' and then they kissed each other and lived happily ever after. We thought it might work with an adorable dragon, so we trained it to say 'Kiss Merlin' whenever we blew a dog whistle and gave it a mouse."

"Did you come up with the horrible poetry as well?" Arthur wanted to be angry, but he couldn't find it in himself.

"No. We've no idea what that was. Honestly." And he really did look honest. "It might have mind-reading skills or something, for all I know. Well. I should get back to the boys now. We're holding our yearly nine-men's-morris tournament, and I don't want Leon to win it again. Come to think of it, I could bring the dragon. It's pretty cold outside. I'll bring him back in the morning. You two just make yourselves comfortable. I think you need to talk. Or something." He winked indecently at Merlin before running to get the dragon and hurrying out through the door.

Arthur lost no time. He pushed Merlin down into the bed and straddled him.

"So, Merlin. Tell me about the dragonlords. I had the distinct impression that the last one of them had died."

Merlin's lower lip trembled. "He was my father, Arthur."

"Balinor? Oh, god. I'm so sorry." Arthur felt like a complete prat. He turned to lie on Merlin's side instead of sitting on top of him.

"When he died, I inherited his gifts." Merlin continued.

"So _you_ are the last dragonlord? That's why the little beast loves you so? But why does he like me? I've no reason to be loved by the dragons."

"Kilgharrah, the great dragon, told me that you and I belonged together. I guess Aithusa feels like that too."

"And what does Merlin, the great dragonlord, think?" Arthur caught Merlin's hands and held them in his.

Merlin closed his eyes. His long, sooty lashes made him look both maidenly and indecent at the same time.

"What I think is unimportant, Arthur. You and Gwen are destined for each other."

Arthur sighed. "Merlin. You just told me _you and I_ were destined. You have to make up your mind."

Merlin looked at him. "I mean you and Gwen are destined to be together like a _couple_."

"Did the dragon tell you that? Because it seems to know its stuff."

"The dragon hasn't mentioned Gwen. I don't think dragons like women. It kept referring to Morgana in a rather nasty manner."

"Merlin. _Listen_. I love Gwen. She's been my friend since childhood. We have bathed together and played 'I show you mine if you show me yours'--"

Merlin made a face. "Less details, please."

"What I was trying to say is that Gwen is my friend. I'm not in love with her. I will probably marry her if she will have me, because she will make a fine queen and so on. But we're not in love. I'm in love with _you_ , you silly man, and I tried to make you jealous by courting Gwen. Even though she told me it was a stupid, roundabout way of doing things that only a man would come up with. I thought it would make you come to your senses and claim me. But you didn't. I thought you liked me. Don't you like me?"

"I don't like you," Merlin replied. When Arthur stared at him, he added: "I _love_ you, Arthur. Liking is just not strong enough. I've wanted you since I first saw you, but it took a while for me to discover your finer qualities and actually love you for the person you are, not just for the pretty face and the finest arse in the Five Kingdoms."

Arthur laughed. "Fine. You've wooed me. Now get on with it and debauch me before I die of frustration and old age."

Merlin was only too glad to obey, throwing caution to the wind and his own and Arthur's clothing to the floor. They had a destiny to fulfil.

**Author's Note:**

> I've shamelessly stolen Gwaine's "kiss merlin" trick from P.G. Wodehouse (it's supposed to feature a baby and toffee, not a dragon and mice).


End file.
